


Bringing the Falling Fire

by HeavensArcher



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Conduit!Danny, Fantasy, M/M, Magic!Stiles, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 01:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavensArcher/pseuds/HeavensArcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The sky was ash and fire and metal. The ground was charred and covered in ruins, soot and death. The war refused to be ignored."</p><p>In a world where war has erupted through the kingdom, a Spark and a Conduit run together to escape conscription to the King's Army.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bringing the Falling Fire

The sky was ash and fire and metal.

The ground was charred and covered in ruins, soot and death.

The war refused to be ignored.

When the king first declared war, he decreed any spark of any power level could come to the castle to do their part for their country, for their people. That they would be rewarded. 

Now there was no choice involved.

Stiles fought down a shaky breath as he closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall he was currently hiding behind. His eyes were wet and he hurriedly blinked the tears back. It wouldn't do to panic now. He stood slightly, peeking over the broken wall and dropping down again with a gasp. One of the king's sparks was right there searching....searching...he didn't want to be found he didn't want to fight he didn't want to hurtanyoneohgodwhywasthishappeningwhy

"Stiles!" came the worried hiss as Danny slid in beside him. Good old Danny who didn't need to be doing this, who could go somewhere and be safe instead of helping him stay away from the king's forces. Danny wrapped his arms around Stiles, dragging him in close and pressing a kiss against the top of his head. 

"Come on, Stiles. We need to keep moving." Danny whispered, peeking around their cover to see the Spark had their back to them. "Go!" He ordered, tugging Stiles hurriedly behind him as they sprinted for the next piece of cover in what was once a beautiful town, now ash and ruins. They dived down behind it as the spark spun around, hearing something.

Danny kept his hand entwined with Stiles, gripping it tighter. Always. I'll always be here with you. I'm not letting you go alone. That was Danny's promise. 

Danny didn't to break promises. Not ones he made to Stiles.

xxx

Stiles couldn't tell you when exactly he first realised he had it. A spark.

Ever since he was little, Stiles had loved being in the forest. Amongst the trees that reached for the sun - thick, strong and unyielding, and the streams that trickled between rocks and under roots. It made him feel safe, and at peace. As he grew, he realised not everyone felt the welcoming touch that came with entering the wilds around them, not everyone heard the whispers on the wind, the laughter and stories the babbling brook told as it raced on by, the deep, alluring conscious that brushed his when the mighty trees warned him of any dangers.

Theirs was a small town, and Stiles was careful. He knew no one around here liked people who were too different, and his dad had it hard enough holding a tenuous grip on the sheriff's position in an ever decreasing population. 

But Danny knew. Danny always knew. Stiles knew he could always trust Danny, even when Scott hugged him goodbye and left to try his luck in the city with his newlywed bride, Allison. Stiles knew Danny wouldn't leave. 

xx

When Danny had a quick look around and came back, nodding his head to Stiles, Stiles nodded back. He closed his eyes and breathed and he breathed in the world around him and the world around him breathed him out. The screaming remains of the tree that burnedburnedburned, the animals scattering in pain and panic, the flows of the world itself beneath the Earth withering in pain and anger and sadness and righteous fury about what these pitiful creatures it gave life to were doing to everything how dare they howdaretheyhow _dare_ they think they had the right to lay waste to this land, that their pitiful _human_ quarrels had any right to effect that what had existed so long before

"Stiles!" Stiles' eyes snapped open and he gasped, coming back to Danny's arms around his wrists and an ever increasing wind whipping around them. "Stiles, you need to calm down, don't let yourself be drawn in." Danny's calm words slowly brought Stiles back to reality, separating himself from the Primal Earth and letting the wind die down.

"Did you sense anything?" Danny asked quietly, once Stiles was calmer and more in control.

"No," Stiles whispered, thinking through all the things he sensed. He hadn't sensed any others like him touching the world around them. 

Stiles watched Danny immediately relax. His shoulders slumped, his eyes were less worried, the slight frown on his face fading into the soft, reassuring smile Stiles had fallen in love with long before this war. Stiles reached forward, wrapping his arms around Danny and bringing him down to sit next to him. He moved until there was no space between them and they were holding onto each other like they were last people on Earth.

xx

"Stiles, hey!" Danny called as Stiles walked towards the forest. Stiles froze for a moment before turning around with a tense smile on his face.

“Hey, Danny. Something wrong?” Stiles questioned.

Danny grinned as he ran towards him and came to a stop, “Nah, just thought I’d see if I could tag along into the forest today? Not much interested in hearing the King’s Army’s recruitment speech for the tenth time this year.” He laughed lightly.

Stiles brightened slightly, knowing how the others their age were always increasingly interested in the idea of joining the forces of the army and moving into the city. They wanted more things than just what they needed and they wanted to leave this small village. Stiles started avoiding them when the officers started talking more and more about how those with magic that joined had riches awaiting them. The trees whispered of bad things.

“Uh,” Stiles stammered, “I- I guess. If you really wanted to? I mean it’s not like it’s anything special or something I just walk around for a few hours so I don’t know if you’d find it interesting at all but of course you are more than welcome to come if you really want to and of course I really couldn’t stop you if I didn’t want you to and…uh,” he stopped, mentally slapping himself for starting to ramble, but rather than the experated and annoyed look he often got from Boyd or Erica, two more of the kids their age, Danny’s expression was fond. The other boy grabbed Stiles’ hand and moved to the edge of the forest.

“Shall we?” Danny asked brightly, turning to Stiles.

Stiles looked at him from the corner of his eye and smiled slightly, gripped tight to Danny’s fingers and moving into the forest.

And the forest welcomed them.

Xx

Waking up in the once-towns that were now ghostly skeletons of their former glory never got easier, Stiles mused as he woke slowly. Danny was still sleeping, head resting on Stiles’ shoulder. He smiled as he carefully pushed himself up from the ground and away from Danny. He stood up carefully and looked around, checking the coast was clear before moving around the charred wreckages. Sometimes they got lucky and a house had a cellar. He spied a trapdoor on the ground in the middle of the next house over. Moving quickly, he climbed inside and searched through the thankfully intact room, surfacing again with some slightly stale bread and cheese.

As he moved back over Danny twitched and stretched, his eyes slowly flickering open. “Hey,” he whispered, voice husky with sleep.

Stiles’ mouth twitched into a grin, “Hey.” He passed some of the loaf and cheese to Danny before grabbing some for himself and shoving the rest in his bag. They never knew when they’d get something like this again.

Danny pushed himself off from the wall, wrapping his hand around Stiles’ neck and bringing him down for a kiss. “It was close yesterday.” He murmured as they pulled away.

Stiles swallowed, “Yea.”

Danny looked at him carefully, “I don’t just mean with the King’s Spark. You seemed harder to bring back than normal.” Stiles looked away. “Stiles. Come on, you know you don’t have to hide anything from me.”

The other boy sat next to him with slumped shoulders, “…It was. It’s call is stronger. I can…I can feel it all the time now – it calling me. It wants this war to stop.”

Danny entwined his fingers with Stiles, “You can control it. I know you can.”

Stiles chuckled humourlessly, “’The Primal Earth calls its own back.’ That’s what that Miss Morell said. She said I had the strongest connection to the Primal Earth she had ever even heard of. That most Sparks don’t hear it at all, let alone have it channel through them like it does with me. I don’t-“ He cut off holding his head in his hands, “I don’t know if I can keep pushing it back, it’s getting stronger each day, even when I don’t use magic it’s always there and it’s getting louder.”

Danny exhaled shakily and knelt in front of his boyfriend, “It’s going to be ok, Stiles. I’m always going to be with you, I’m not going to leave you alone. I promised, remember? I didn’t just mean for this stupid war, I meant for everything. Creepy Primal spirits that no one can really explain included, yea?”

Stiles let out a rough laugh, letting his boyfriend drag him close.

“It’s gonna work out. It’s gonna be fine.”

Xx

The first time Danny truly realised the power that Stiles had at his fingertips, he wasn’t watching him click his fingers to spark a flame or lifting water from a stream to send flying at him. It was just a day where they were laying quietly in a glade, the breeze rustling through the trees. Danny looked over to Stiles and saw his eyes closed and a small smile etched on his face.

Danny reached over, grabbed his hand, and it was like his world exploded, like fire was travelling through his veins, like he was hearing everything ever all at the same time amplified 100 times.

He came to with Stiles leaning over him crying in his worry, trying to get him to wake up. The glade they were in was charred around them, like a fire had ripped through here and only here. The animals were quiet.

Since then Stiles has been careful to rein in his powers around Danny, and Danny was careful to ensure Stiles knew when he was going to touch him.

Miss Morell told them they made quite the pair, the most powerful spark in existence and a conduit suited perfectly for his power. That by working together, she was terrified of what they could accomplish: Stiles’ raw _power_ plus Danny’s amplification when magic was cycled through him.

Xx

They ran.

They ran.

They always ran.

Xx

“There’s a grove this way,” Stiles called as their feet pounded into the ground below them. He tugged Danny to the left, towards a mountain range.

“How far though, Stiles?” Danny responded, he own breath coming in gasps as he chanced a look behind and saw the King’s Cavalry drawing ever closer.

“Not too far,” Stiles promised, certain. “We should make it before they catch us.”

“And the grove promised us safety?” Danny asked.

Stiles’ eyes seemed to glow for a moment and his expression vacated, only for a brief moment though, and Danny saw how quickly he fought back to reality. “Yes.” Stiles confirmed.

The two of them ran faster.

Xx

“Have you ever done anything with your magic?” Danny asked as the two of them dipped their toes in a small stream.

“Like, intentionally?” Stiles asked uncomfortably.

Danny nodded, smiling at him to show he wasn’t worried or scared. Stiles didn’t know if Danny knew how much it meant that he wasn’t scared of him.

“Uh, n-not really. I don’t think I’ve even done _anything,_ accidently or not. I mean, I listen to everything all the time but I’ve never…never _done_ something.” Stiles tapered off, looking at the ripples in the water.

“Have you…Have you tried?” At Stiles’ curious look, Danny was quick to explain, “It’s just, I dunno, maybe it’s a bit like starting a campfire. You have the ability to do it, so like having the wood and the kindling, but you need a spark, you know? To catch the kindling on fire. And then you need to carefully coax it to being a flame and slowly you start to add wood in larger and larger amounts til it’s big and strong, you know? Maybe you should practice actually doing things so that, if you ever need it, the small flame’s there and all you need to do is kinda…fuel it. Did…did that make sense? At all?” He rubbed the back of his head before falling backwards and staring into the sky. “Maybe this whole ‘my friend is magic’ thing is just really messing with me. I used to be smart, you know?” He joked grinning at Stiles, “People used to say I _knew_ things. Now look at me! Totally clueless!”

Stiles smiled absently while looking at the water in front of him thoughtfully. Suddenly, his eyes glowed and Danny swore as he jumped back slightly. Drops of water rose from the surface and hung in the air before moving together into the shape of a bird, flying upwards before exploding into droplets once more that rained down on them.

Slowly, the glow in Stiles’ eyes died away and he looked wearily at Danny.

“…Yea that’d do it,” Danny muttered before tackling Stiles into the dirt and tickling him to the sounds of Stiles’ laughing protests.

Xx

The trees creaked and groaned behind them as they shifted: trucks shifting closer, roots interlocking, protecting them, always protecting them. Stiles fell to the groan with Danny tumbling after him, hands still clasped and breath coming in panted gasps.

“How long?” Danny groaned, turning over to stare at the canopy above them.

Stiles kept his eyes closed as tremors of adrenaline rocked through his body, “I don’t know. They didn’t have a spark there, so they’ll probably wait for one to arrive. Try that first.”

Danny exhaled and turned to look at Stiles, “If they get impatient?”

Stiles swallowed, opening his eyes. “They shouldn’t…the King told them that he wants me brought before him unharmed…But, if they do…they’d just set the grove on fire, smoke us out. We’d have to leave, they know that.”

Danny rubbed his forehead, the armies been doing that more and more often, burning or cutting down forests, groves, gardens…anywhere a spark could hide or be protected. It meant their own Sparks had been growing ever weaker – magic was tied directly to the Earth around them, after – but it helped smoke out any Sparks that we unwilling to join the war of their own free will.

Stiles rolled over and tucked himself beneath Danny’s chin, curling into him as the older boy wrapped his arms around him. “I don’t know how much longer we can do this…” Stiles whispered in a tearful voice.

Danny held him tighter but didn’t answer.

He didn’t know either.

Xx

“Stiles!” Danny screeched as water poured down his back. Stiles’ laugh portrayed exactly how remorseful he was (read: not at all) and Danny scowled as he pulled his shirt over his head, wringing it out and laying it on a rock to dry. Stiles’ laughter trailed off and Danny turned around to see the younger boy staring at him.

“Stiles?” Danny questioned with a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Uh huh?” Stiles murmured distractedly.

Danny smiled warmly and tugged the younger boy closer, pressing a kiss to his lips and moving his lips directly next to the frozen boy’s ear. “I think you look very good too.”

Xx

With Danny helping guide his otherwise unpredictable magic, Stiles managed to tunnel under the grove, backfilling the tunnel as they went to hide their escape for as long as possible. The roots moved at Stiles’ wish and the dirt was loosened under his touch and they slowly, ever so slowly made their way along following the call of the Earth.

Danny’s hand never left Stiles’.

Xx

Stiles and Danny sat, sides pressed together as the Army recruiters marched away towards the next village.

“They’re getting more and more forceful with their recruiting,” Danny murmured in Stiles’ ear.

The boy nodded, “I’ve overheard Dad talking a few times. They’re saying the kingdom to the East is growing restless and angry. The King has apparently been slowly encroaching on their borders.”

“So his army recruitment has been turning towards war recruitment,” Danny sighed, having noticed the increasingly patriotic speeches and other kingdom hatred coming from the recruiters.

Stiles hummed in agreement, closing his eyes and rested his head on Danny’s shoulder. “Do you think we’ll be ok here?”

Danny pressed his lips to the top of Stiles’ head, “Sure we will. We’re only small after all. I’m sure they’ll march right by us.”

Xx

They managed a few days living in a cave system in nearby mountains before the Earth warned Stiles the army was once again on their scent. Stiles kept telling Danny that he should just go, go somewhere safe, find one of the camps that were hiding to wait out the war. It was only because of Stiles that they could be tracked.

Danny always refused. “I’ll always be with you. I’m not letting you go alone. I _promised._ ”

Stiles always smiled tearfully at the familiar words and grasped Danny’s hand tighter as they ran ran ran

Xx

“’All Sparks are to report to the capital for training and placement in the King’s Army.’” Danny read quietly as Stiles trembled beside him. “’All Sparks who are found who have not announced themselves to the King by the Summer Equinox will face punishment.’ I don’t understand,” Danny turned to Stiles, “How would they even know?”

Stiles swallowed, “If a Spark is powerful enough, they can open their senses and sense others, sense the magic around them.”

Danny tightened his mouth and turned to the flyer, ripping it off the village’s board.

Xx

The world was red and black – blood and ash and fire.

The world was silence and noise – screams, death-filled silence, tense anticipation, silent terror, loud pain.

The world used to be green, green and beautiful.

The Primal Earth screamed with rage and the echoes rattled the bones of Sparks everywhere.

Xx

Stiles could hear the horses of the King’s Army coming ever closer, even without opening his senses to the Earth. The trees whispered to him, and he could see the dust cloud they kicked up in their haste in the distance. He shivered again.

The Earth told them they had a Spark with them. He could sense the other magic user moving ever closer, pricking the edges of his magical awareness. The other user didn’t appear to have the ability to sense him from that distance though, which made sense. The King was probably keeping the Sparks with the most magical power closer, only sending out those with the minimum amount required to do this.

The Magic told him the Spark would need to be standing next to him to tell he was magic.

Magic had always warned Stiles he was powerful.

A knock on the window startled him so much that he fell off the chair he was sitting on. He stood up, dusting himself off with trembling hands as he moved towards the window.

Danny’s face appeared, grimly determined and yet oh so comforting to him. He unlocked the window.

“Danny I-“

“Shh,” Danny breathed, pressing a finger to soft lips. “You need to grab a change of clothes, switch to your boots. Grab anything you absolutely need that you can fit in what’s left of this,” He passed a bag to him, partially filled with food and water with a blanket secured to it.

“Danny, what’s going on?” Stiles questioned, moving to do as he asked.

“I’m not letting them take you,” Danny promised with tears in his eyes as they followed Stiles’ movements around the small home he shared with his father.

Stiles froze, turning to him. “…I’m leaving?”

“ _We’re_ leaving,” Danny corrected him, “You have no place in this. I’m not letting them force you to fight. So we’re leaving.”

Stiles gaped at him, open mouthed, “B-But your sisters…your mum…”

“They don’t need me. I’m not leaving you to do this alone.”

Stiles shook, tears falling from his eyes, “I c- I can’t ask you to come with me. I’ll go by myself. I’ll”

“No, Stiles. I’m not letting you do this alone. I’m not letting you do this alone. I promise. I’m never leaving you.” Danny swore, wrapping Stiles up in his arms. Stiles breathed in Danny’s comforting scent and clasped their hands together.

Stiles quickly wrote a letter to his father, tucking it in his spare pair of boots and stood taking a final look around his childhood home. Taking a deep breath, he was tugged along by Danny out the window.

And the woods welcomed them.

Xx

They were surrounded.

They’d tried. God, they tried so hard and they’d run so long but theyweresurroundedandtheycouldn’tgetouttherewasnowayoutthistime. Stiles’ was shaking as he stared blankly at the soldiers surrounding him, the Sparks that stood just behind, channeling the remaining power in the land so they couldn’t run. Danny took Stiles’ hand and squeezed it tightly, Stiles turning to look at him with a dirt streaked face and a shaky smile.

Stiles could feel the Earth dancing around his feet, pressing around him, trying to fill him. He looked at Danny out of the corner of his eye and opened himself to the whispers of the world around him, letting it creep in little by little. He breathed deeply and felt himself tap gently at the barrier he and Danny and worked to put between them, so that Danny wouldn’t automatically start channelling Stiles’ magic whenever they touched. He felt Danny start slightly before immediately relaxing. Danny tapped gently back, whatever you need me to do, it seemed to say. Together.

Stiles’ eyes closed and then snapped open, his eyes glowing white as he gave himself completely to the Primal Earth that rushed through as soon as the permission was given, Danny quickly dissolved the barrier between them and soon it rushed through both of them with growing intensity. The winds picked up around them and the earth shook beneath their feet. The Magic being channelled by the other Spark’s was cut off and pulled to the two of them at the will of the Earth.

And fire fell from the sky.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a few comments about possibly writing more for this verse and I am totally open to the idea. I have a bunch of essays due in the next two weeks, but after that I should be able to sit down and try to write something before finals hit. 
> 
> The truth is though, while I know there is still a lot to tell for this verse in general, I kind of considered Danny/Stiles' journey finished? I never thought about what happened after the fire fall. I never decided if they lived, died, escaped, were captured...and since I covered (in small snapshots) their childhood up to and including their running, obviously a pre-fic isn't the way to go. Maybe a snapshot from Miss Morell's PoV when she met them and realised their combined power?
> 
> If you guys do want more, I am very open to prompts, comments and general discussion over on my blog (littlejehan.tumblr.com) and I am more than happy to chat about any aspects of the world you wanted to know about (oh god the world building I did for this like, none of it made it in here, that cut me deep but I didn't wanna drag it out x.x so questions about how certain aspects of it work are more than welcome). 
> 
> But yes, send prompts, ideas, comments, questions etc at the tumblr and I'll see what I can do!


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